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BANK LOSES WHEELCHAIR ACCESS APPEAL

ABOVE: The Royal Bank of Scotland has lost an appeal over wheelchair access

20th November 2009

A disabled teenager denied access to his bank because there was no wheelchair access has won a landmark victory for disabled customers.

David Allen, 18, who has muscular dystrophy, took legal action after the Royal Bank of Scotland failed to alter the access at the Church Street branch in Sheffield, where he is studying creative writing at the city's Hallam University.

The bank appealed over a ruling that it had not catered for the access needs of Mr Allen who was awarded £6,500 damages.

But three judges at the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and ordered the bank to carry out the necessary access work, which has been estimated as costing £200,000. They also ordered the bank to pay Mr Allen's legal costs, awarded him another £3,000 damages for the delay and refused permission to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Speaking after the judgment, Mr Allen said: "I'm glad the bank finally had to apologise in court and acknowledge they treated me badly.

"But I am still very disappointed that RBS (who I have banked with since I was 10 when I was still able to walk) would not willingly comply with the Disability Discrimination Law and provide wheelchair access which not only I, but many of their other customers with disabilities, need. They just failed to understand anything about the need for privacy and dignity."

He added: "I only wanted them to comply with the law and provide access so I could get into my bank like my friends."

Lord Justice Wall said in the ruling that Mr Allen could not access the counter facilities at the bank and a duty "plainly thereby arose" under the Disability Discrimination Act. He said the bank could have taken steps to provide access for those suffering from disabilities. "The bank did not take those steps, giving as its reason not the disproportionate cost of carrying out the work, but simply the fact that it would lose the use of an interview room."

The Sheffield branch concerned is a 19th century listed building where access to all entrances is by flights of stone steps. Judge John Dowse ruled at Sheffield County Court in January that the bank had breached the disability Act.

RBS, which had pledged not to deprive Mr Allen of his damages if it won the appeal, said it had complied with the Disability Rights Commission's code of practice and arranged access to three other branches, as well as offering Mr Allen the use of telephone or internet banking services.